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Geo: 23.12, -81.36
We departed Halifax for our one-month trip to Cuba on a perfect fly day – blue skies, crisp weather. The required three-hour arrival prior to flight seemed ridiculous but not wanting to end up without a seat or something equally as silly, we left with time to spare on our new Nova Scotia Heritage Day holiday. Our good friend CG offered to park our car at her home while we were gone and drove us to the airport. Sweet!
I continue to use a crutch to facilitate mobility; if I have to walk far or stand long, the crutch enables me to take the weight off my osteoarthritic knees which have experienced a flare-up. Although I debated at great length whether to use my hiking poles or bring a crutch, the crutch won out and has proven to be the right decision.
Flying on a plane full of people starting their vacation creates an atmosphere of lightheartedness, and as we got closer to our destination, jubilation. A friend told me we would get a glass of bubbly on the plane; frankly, I didn't believe her! After severe turbulence – scary, in fact – the flight attendants announced they were bringing
out the bubbly. When they handed out little sampler size plastic cups, half-filled with sparkling wine, although surprised, I accepted readily. Bubbly it was and it marked the commencement a holiday for the entire planeload of vacationers.
Guide books and websites warned us of the queues (or queue-ban - as it is referred to in Cuba). Confusion, queues and "Cuban time" at the airport was the best way to orientate us. It took us 3.5 hours once we landed in Cuba to navigate border security, customs, baggage retrieval, the gathering of those taking the same transfer bus, the 30-minute bus ride, and check in at the hotel. What kept me going was - physically: my crutch; and - emotionally: knowing we would meet up with our son Calvert and his fiancé Rena who had arrived at the resort in Varadero from Calgary about 20 hours earlier.
Varadero
It's a windy day in Varadero; cool by Cuban standards, perfection by mine. Light breezes waft my hair gracefully about my head. Normally my hair is quite thick but this haircut (shaven underneath with a bob cut over) releases the upper layer from the heaviness of a full head of hair. I like it.
Doing the all-inclusive 'gig' is not our style of travel. For Christmas 2014, we gave Cal and Rena a vacation with us. We offered them any kind of travel within a specific budget and their choice was this which proved to be a nice way to spend time together worry and hassle-free. Memories Varadero, a large facility with twenty 3-story villas spread over an expanse that took 15 minutes to walk from end to end, ensured we got some exercise between over-eating and indulging in mojitos, gin and tonics, and pina colados.
Cal insisted on maintaining his workout regime, dragging Rena out of bed in the morning or eating a full breakfast and then attempting to work off the excesses of resort life. They made a valiant effort for a few days, finding that the gym hours didn't correspond well to their desired vacation schedule, nor did the essence of a vacation and its relaxed and spontaneous attitude fit well with the discipline of working out. How can you sit on the beach, eat a burger for lunch, drink a few drinks, splash in the ocean then go for a workout? Or, change the order and it still doesn't work. So they
joined us in joyous rest and relaxation with some walking thrown in for good measure.
Conversations among us ranged from tattoos and how they should be curated on a body as an art exhibit, to the mystery of native blood in my family background. One day, to change the rhythm, we baked in the sun by the pool, reading or napping or as with Jim, sitting in the shade endlessly watching photography instruction videos. We'd take periodic dips in the pool, walking the entire length to the swim-up bar for a few gin and tonics or whatever our fancy was at that time. Boris, the gentle bartender with a soft and compelling smile, won both Rena's and my hearts as we noticed he exuded qualities similar to Jim and Cal. And he made great drinks!
We are happy to be here with each other for this week - our family - varying our activity to suit our inner children or sloth. The ocean, although cool, is delightful to swim in; some days it is as still as a glassy water lake and other days we are rollicking in the waves.
Internet use in Cuba was curious. We saw many teenagers and
adults sitting in the lobby/lounge with their faces planted in their devices. I observed a mother rationing out a stack of 30-ish wifi cards for her son. And yet, any time we tried to connect to the wifi, it would take all thirty minutes on the card to get connected with no time left to open email. Then, magically, two days later I'd discover numerous emails downloaded onto my iPad. I'd try again to connect so I could read them and, again, no luck. Jim was beside himself trying to stay in touch with a couple of contracts he was working on at home. Ah well, let it go...
My conclusion to the three lifestyle issues we are facing here - lack of physical fitness, eating and drinking too much and little connection to the Internet - are that when in Cuba, forget life as you know it in the Western world and sit back, relax, read, write and block out that non-stop, swirling life going on back home. It's not so bad travelling like we did in the 1980s!
And, at this point in our trip, we had no idea what the remaining weeks of travelling independently in Cuba held for
us...
All of Jim's images of Varadero can be seen in higher resolution here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimneale/albums/72157663758848333
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Nora Detlor
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Beautiful photos. Nice to read your blog again. Can,t wait for the next leg of the journey.